Rotary-valve-tightening mechanism



E. RICH April 20 1926;

ROTARY VALVE TIGHTENING MECHANISM EVERT RICH, OF LOS .ANGrEIiES7 CALIFORNIA.

RorARY-viiiivn-Tisiirnniive ivinoniiivisir.

Application led January 23, 1925. Serial No. 4,189.

l To af/Z `'whom 'it may concern:

Be it known that I, Evinir Rioii, a citizen of the United Statesresiding at Los An- `roles, iii

the county of Los ngeles and State of California, have invented new and Improvements in Rotary-/Talverlightening Mechanism, ofY which the following' is a specification. f

This invention relates to improvements in rotary valves.

An object of the invention is to provide a rotary valve adapted to open and close port-s which are all located upon the same side of thevalve so aste control the flow of fluid therethrough, and to provide means for applyinga force upon the valve upon the opposite side from the ports so that the valve will he urged toward its ports and will in this manner maintain a'tight seat.

furtherohject of the invent-ion is to provide a rotary valve adapted to control the flu id1k How through ports', all of which are located uponthe same side of the valve, and to provide means for transferringP pressure from the fiuid pressure supply 'adapted to flow through the ports to the opposite side of the valve in suoli a manner as to cauce this pressure to apply to the valve upon the opposite s ideof the ports a force greater than that which is developed by the fluid pressure supply upon the. port s'ide of the valve.

Although the invention is designed to he applied to rotary valves in general, it is especially with the adapted to he used in conjunction rotary valve of an internal coni- Withv the foregoing and other objects in viewvwhich will he made manifest in thev following` detailed description and pointed out in the appended claims, reference is had to the accompanying drawings for an illustrative embodiment of the invention, where- Figure 1 bis a vertical sectiontlirougli an internal combustion engine, to which .the

improved plied g Fig. 2

valve construction has been apis a top plan view of a portion of the engine shown ii-i Fig. 1;

Fi star'itiallyv g'. Sis a horizontal section. taken subon the line Fig. 4 is a section taken through a rotary valve of conventional construction adapted to he 'used forany of a variety of purposes;

and

itin', 5 is a section taken substantially ou rthe line 5 5 of Fig'. d.

Referring to the accompanying drawings wherein similar reference characters designate similar parts throughout, in Fig. 1, have disclosed an internal conihustionengine having cylinders 10 and 1l, about which there is disposed a water jacket rilthough l have only illustrated two cylinders of the internal combustion engine,

it is to he understood that the engine may have any number of cylinders and may he of any know construction. Vithin the cylinders l() and 11 there is disposed pistons 13 connected hy connecting rods 14 to a crank pinv 15. -The cylinders are `adapted to he tired by means of spark plugs 1U. Each of the cylinders 1() and llyis provided with a conducting duct 17, which constitutes an inlet and an exhaust passage for each of the cylinders.

The side of the blockin which the cylinders are formed is provided with a flat face 18 against which is secured a valve housnp` 19Ky the valve housing 19A being shown as provided with flanges 2O bearing' against the flatvface 18 and secured thereto as hy bolts ,21.

are formed ports 22 which, when the valve housing` is mounted upon the side of the cyly inder block., register with the conductingducts 17. lllfitliin the valve housing 1S) which may he hollow, as indicated at 2li, and which has passages 25 formed therein,

in the rotary valve disclosed in my copending application above referred to. Be-

neath the valve housing 19 there is rdisposed yfold 26 there is an exhausty manifold 29 communicating with passages v30 formed in theffcylinderv Vblock, 'which passages' coni- -ni'.iiiiicate with ports r3l; formed in the- `valve In the valve 'housing 19 there A there is disposed a rotary valve member 2S y lioy Cil

housing 19. lVhen the valve 19 is so ro tated that one of its pas'ages 25 establishes communication between a conducting duct 1? and a port 3l, exhaust gases may be discharged from the cylinders of the engine into the exhaust manifold 29.

As shown upon the drawing, the valve housing 19 is somewhat semi-cylindrical in construction, having top and bottom flanges 32 upon which is secured a somewhat semi cylindrical cap 33, which encloses a semi cylindrical member 34, which cooperates with the valve housing 19 to form a valve cylinder in which the valve 23 rotates. The top and bottom edges of the semi-cylindrical memberl 34 are slieable upon parallel surfaces 35 provided upon the valve housing 19. rli`he cap 33 is provided with a stem portion 36 into which is screwed or otherwise secured a fitting 37 providing a cylinder in which a piston 38 formed upon the semicylindrical member 34 is slidable. The piston 38 may be formed integral with the semi-cylindrical member 34, or may be otherwise secured thereto, and a washer or other packing material, indicated at 39, may be secured upon the outer end of the piston 38 by a plate 40 secured in place by a cap screw 41. rlhe outer end of the fitting 37 has an aperture 42 formed therein, which receives a nipple 43, and a coupling 44 isthreaded on to the nipple and couples a pipe 45 to it. A coil spring 46 is disposed within the litting 37 and is compressed between the piston 38 and the end of the fit-ting 37, so as to normally urge the piston 38 and the semicylindrical member 34 against the valve. The pipe 45 communicates with the bottom of a liquid reservoir R adapted to hold a liquid L, and a branch conduit 47 provided with a valve 48 preferably is employed, which communicates with the pipe 45 and the top of the liquid reservoir R. From the top of the liquid reservoir there leads a second pipe 49 provided with a check valve 50, which communicates with one of the cylinders of the internal combustion engine. As shown in Fig. 3, this pipe communicates with the cylinder 10 formed in the internal coml bustion engine.

The operation of the device upon the internal combustion engine is as follows: Upon the compression stroke of the piston 13 within the cylinder 10, gas is forced through the second pipe 49 past the check valve 50 and into the liquid reservoir R. Under usual circumstances, the valve 48 in the branch conduit 47 is closed, and the pressure developed within the liquid reservoir R above the liquid L forces the liquid through vthe pipe 45 and the nipple 43 and into the cylinder provided by the fitting 37. This fluid pressure is exerted upon the face of the piston 38 and urges the semi-cylindrical member 34 against the valve 23 so as to force it towards the ports 22, 28 and 3l, all of which, it will be noted, are upon the same side of the valve. In this manner, the valve 23 may be placed int-he valve housing 19 with a considerable amount of clearance so as to prevent freezing, or sticking of the valve, when heated; but the valve will not leak because of the fluid pressure urging the valve against its seat across the ports. The fluid pressure in reality constitutes a resilient means for resiliently forcing the valve toward the port side of the housing 19. Preferably, the exposed area upon the piston 38 is greater than the area of the cylinder ports 22, so that the force developed upon the piston side of the valve n3 will at all times be greater than the force developed upon the port side of the valve by the engine cylinder pressure acting thereon, so that the resultant of all forces acting upon the valve 23 is in a direction toward the port side of the valve. The spring 46 may additionally exert a sufficient force to urge the valve toward its ports, so that regardless of the pressure developed within a cylinder of the internal combustion engine, the valve will always be proportionately urged towards its ports, so as to provide a tight seat thereabout. The check valve 50 prevents the backward flow of fluid pressure developed within the liquid reservoir R toward the cylinders, and as the pressure developed within the reservoir quickly reaches the amount of the maximum pressure developed within a cylinder of the internal combustion engine, namely, that which is developed upon the explosion stroke, the additional gas which is forced into the reservoir R will be practically neg ligible, and in this manner the loss of compression within the cylinder 10 is unnoticeable for all practical purposes. Because of the fact that the liquid L is forced against the piston 38, which liquid is preferably oil, the slight escape of liquid about the packing 39 is usually sufficient to lubricate the valve. If not suflicient, a small hole may be made through the piston or a separate and independent lubrication feed brought through the cap 33. However, in some cases, if for any reason, it should be undesirable to use the liquid L, the valve 48 may be opened. and the gas pressure may be applied directly upon the piston 38. On an internal combustion engine having a large number of cylinders, a liquid reservoir R may be used for each cylinder or pair of cylinders, if so desired. However, in the preferred form of construction, a pipe 51 leads to pistons similar to the piston 38, located along the valve 23 opposite other pairs of cylinders, and only one cylinder is used for maintaining the pressure within the liquid reservoir R. In case of a number of cylinders, the valve 23 may be divided into sections coupled together for rotation.

From the above it is seen that an iinpi'oved mechanism is provided for tightening a rotary valve against its ports, which transmits pressure from the fluid pressure supply which passes through the ports to the opposite side oi the valve from the ports, and that this pressure develops a torce which is approximately equal to and is preferably greater than the torce developed by the pressure upon the port side of the valve. Although I have above described the device as applied to a rotary valve oi'i'aii internal combustion engine, Vthe improvement is applicable upon other rotary valves.

In Fig. 'l, I have disclosed a valve housing (i0, with which communicate an intake passage 5l and an exhaust passage 62, there being a passage 63 formed in the rotary valve (Se disposed within the `valve housing 60, which is adapted to establish communication between the intake passage 61 and the eX- haust passage 62. rIhe side of the valve housing GO opposite the ports provided by the intake passage (il and the exhaust passage 62 is cutaway, and a s-eii'ii-cylindi'ical member ($5, similar to the semi-cylindrical member 3st, is adapted to bear against the rotary valve (ist, which semi-cylindrical inem` ber carries a piston 66, similar to the piston 38. A cap 6T, similar to the fitting 37, is secured upon the valve housing and a coil spring- 68, similar to the coil spring 4G, is compressed between the cap 67 and the piston 6G. A pipe 69 establishes communication between the intake passage G1 and the cylinder provided within. the cap 67 and in this manner transmits fluid pressure from the luid pressure supply in the intake passage Gl to the piston 6G. One end oit the valve housing 60 is closed, as indicated at 70, and the opposite end carries a gland member 7l, compressing` packing 72 about the rotary valve 64. A handle 73 is formed integral with, or may be otherwise secured to, the i'obut is small enough in outside diameter to allow lateral movement. In this modification, the exposed area upon the piston 66 is preferably ot' such size that the force developed by the application of pressure upon the piston will be always greater than the force developed by the pressure upon the port side of the valve, and in this manner the resultant ot forces acting'upon the valve will always maintain it against the port side of the housing GO.

It will be understood that various changes in the detail oft' construction may be made without departing from the spirit or scope oi" the invention as defined by the appended claims.

I claim:

l. In an interna-1 combustion engine, a rotary valve, intake and exhaust ports adapted to be opened and closed by said valve and arranged upon one side thereof, a conduit con'iinunicating with a cylinder otsaid en- U'ine a li uid reservoir into which said con J ed to be opened and closed by said valve and arranged upon one side thereof, a conduit communicating with a cylinder ot said eiigine, a cheek valve mounted in said conduit,

a liquid reservoir into which said conduit discharges, a member engageable upon said valve upon the opposite side of said ports, a piston associated with said member, and means for applying pressure developed within said reservoir to said piston as and for the purpose described. n

In testimony whereof I have signed my naine to this specification.

EVERT RICH. 

